Political elites in Belgium

Abstract This chapter sets out a comprehensive overview of the Belgian scholarship on political elites. We cover different types of elite members who take up strategic positions within key institutions of the Belgian political system: members of the executive branch at regional and federal levels, elected representatives in regional and national parliaments, party leaders, and candidates for parliamentary elections. The discussion of the state-of-the-art research on elites is structured along three major subthemes on which Belgian scholars have contributed substantially to the comparative literature: (1) socio-demographic profiles of elite members; (2) personalization of politics; and (3) multilevel playing field of political elites. Finally, we suggest multiple crucial avenues for future elite research efforts: fostering a collaborative research framework beyond Belgian regional specificities, studying the effects of Belgian electoral reforms on elites, and leveraging digital research methods and availability of big data to study elite behaviour.